An amazing stor of courage and determination! Have you reached the “half/half” time of your life? Half a century, half a decade. It’s a milestone.
As she approached this milestone, Alenka Vreček did what few of us would think of doing–make a 2,500 mile journey from Northern California to Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. She has written about it in her inspiring story: SHE RIDES, Chasing Dreams Across California and Mexico.
Most of us would think driving the route would be challenge. But Alenka rode her mountain bike, lovingly called The Beast, by herself. And she did it after she had been through a major illness and knee surgery.
This is a fascinating and inspirational story. Along the way, Alenka learned a great deal about herself and discovered the joy of living life to its fullest. It’s lesson she want to share with all of us.
You will love her stories about the kind and generous she met along the way,
She was born and raised in Slovenia. She moved to the states and became a ski instructor in Lake Tahoe.
Even as a youngster Akenka was adventurous. After her father read Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express to her, she stowed away on a train hoping to find the famous train. It’s nice to know that our beloved Agatha made such an impact on a little girl in a land far away from St, Mary Mead. He father used to say she was a stubborn as a mountain goat. He would be very proud of this book.
Do get this book. It makes you want to do something. I want a bike it
Listen to Interview
Buy the Book
Praise for She Rides...
“A gripping account of small-scale adventure and self-discovery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A universal story of healing, hope, grit, and determination. Alenka’s bike trip from Tahoe to Baja is a heroine’s journey that will hold you in its grip. But it’s also a love story—about knowing what matters most and finding your way back home.”
—Valerie Andrews, editor of Reinventing Home and author of A Passion for this Earth
“Alenka Vrecek invites us to sit side-saddle as she rides from Tahoe to the tip of Baja, battling headwinds and heartache, illness and injury, and others’ ideas of who and how a fifty-four-year-old woman should be. Gripping, wise, and snort-coffee-out-your-nose funny, She Rides will make you want to drop everything, get good and lost, and find your way back home.”
—Brian Benson, author of Going Somewhere
“She Rides is heartfelt and riveting from the opening lines. So much more than a grueling bicycle adventure, Vrecek openly shares her feelings of longing for her home country, the fallout from the dissolution of her first marriage, and the prospect that she might not recover from cancer….”
—Michael Shapiro, author of A Sense of Place
“We all embark on journeys of discovery, whether in our own neighborhood or faraway lands, but few of us take on the rigors that Alenka Vrecek does in She Rides. The psychological and emotional challenges of this solo-cycling marathon from Lake Tahoe to southern Baja are as daunting as the physical ones, but she navigates them all, emerging from the experience having found what she was seeking: her place in the world.”
—Larry Habegger, Executive Editor of Travelers’ Tales Books
“Daring herself with the fantasy of bicycling from Tahoe to Baja—right after a string of daunting medical challenges—Alenka Vercek proves that our only limits are the ones we impose on ourselves. Filled with scenic beauty and personal reflection, She Rides is a keenly observed account of Vercek’s odyssey through many worlds, inner and outer.”
—Jeff Greenwald, author of Snake Lake
“She Rides is a tale of the spunk, perseverance, and desire it took for Alenka to not only finish the ride but always live life to the fullest. It’s also funny, humble, and a touching tribute to the human spirit.”
—Tim Hauserman, author of Going it Alone: Ramblings and Reflections from the Trail
